CBEC Chairman in Vizag – for our Seminar
No CBEC Chairman had ever visited Vizag. Mr. P C Jha the present Chairman was in Vizag on Saturday to address our Seminar. He had a full House – the hall was jam packed. Unassuming, simple, frank and highly responsive, Mr. Jha clean bowled Vizag. We had carried a report on the opening session on Saturday. Today we bring you excerpts from his speech.
It is not every day that a Chairman visits an out of the way place like Vizag and so the expectations were too high, which the Chairman clearly understood.
Not only the trade, but also Departmental officers wanted us to bring to his notice their grievances, which of course as a carrier, we did.
Mr. Shailendra Kumar , Managing Editor of TIOL said that Service Tax is threatening to overtake all taxes in the country and is likely to become unmanageable not only for the tax administration, but the tax payer also. He highlighted TIOL's role in bridging the gap between the tax payer and the tax administration, the seminars in different cities being part of this mission.
Mr. Somesh Arora, a former Revenue official and now Head of Taxation of Reliance Haryana SEZ, spoke about the intricacies in the SEZ Laws and conflicts with other laws. He pointed out that in some cases, the Department is taking clearances to SEZ as exports, but in some other cases, they don't consider them as exports. The Chairman said that the issue is under discussion between the Commerce and the Revenue Departments and a decision will be taken soon.
The Chief Commissioner, Vizag Mr. Vittal Das explained the remarkable achievements of his zone and the Chairman was all praise for him and his officers.
Mr. Gautam Bhattacharya , the Commissioner, Service Tax in the Board was as usual the star clarificator answering patiently all the questions put to him.
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